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COURTESY HPD
Kendrick Padilla
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A 39-year-old Ewa Beach man who works as a counselor at Kapolei High School was arrested Tuesday afternoon at the West Oahu campus for allegedly soliciting a minor for prostitution.
A Honolulu Police Department spokeswoman said no other information could be released because the victim is a minor.
Kendrick Padilla, who has been licensed as a school counselor in Hawaii since 2009, was still in custody Wednesday afternoon and had not been charged.
The offense he was arrested for — “street solicitation of prostitution” — is a petty misdemeanor, punishable by a maximum 30-day jail term or six months of probation. It prohibits anyone “within the boundaries of Waikiki and while on any public property” from paying or offering or agreeing to pay a fee to another person to engage in sexual conduct; or from offering or agreeing to engage in sexual conduct with another person in return for a fee.
A Department of Education spokesman said the school’s area superintendent temporarily reassigned the counselor to a position at the school where Padilla won’t be directly working with students, effective Wednesday and until further notice.